< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team

Total appearances: 10

Team debut: 2006

Robert Pulleyn “has strong industry knowledge and excellent communication skills,” attests one portfolio manager. The Morgan Stanley analyst and his London-based squad rebound to second place after spending a year at runner-up. The researchers formally track 14 regional oil services companies and monitor many more, the 32-year-old team leader reports. He and his associates downgraded Vallourec from equal weight to underweight in May. The French company manufactures tubing for petroleum refining, and they judged market expectations overblown in light of dwindling Mideast demand growth. Sure enough, Vallourec lagged even the woeful performance of its peers through last month, plunging 52.6 percent, to €19.37. The sector dropped by 48.5 percent over the same period, while Europe’s broad market advanced 3.9 percent. Looking ahead, the analysts project that pricing pressure from a slowdown in upstream capital expenditures will continue to trouble the sector waters, but two companies that should buck the tide and deliver strong results are Gaztransport Et Technigaz of France and Norway’s Aker Solutions. GTT, which supplies cargo containment systems and storage vessels for liquefied-natural-gas carriers, maintains a strong dividend yield, they note, while Aker — a provider of subsea production equipment as well offshore field design services — enjoys a healthy order backlog and bargain valuation.